July - Second Friday 6:30 pm
Eren took a deep breath. He had just finished setting up his work room. He had opted to get some bean bags for the group, figuring it would be a nice gesture. Plus Eren just really wanted an excuse to lounge while he worked. The rickety old chairs he had used at his first meeting had his ass hurting within the first fifteen minutes.
Eren padded around the room, inspecting it. He had cleaned the place till it was spotless before bringing in the bean bags. He didn't want to get them dirty the second he brought them in. So now four jade green bean bags lay in a circle on the floor. A special black bean bag was among the circle; Eren had gotten a black bean bag especially for Levi, in hopes that he would come back. Black seemed like it would suit the angry little man. Eren shuffled over to the coffee bar, putting a pot of coffee on. He had memorized how everyone took their coffee and wanted to have the drinks ready when everyone arrived to show that he was paying attention to every little detail.
At 6:50 Hannes arrived and Eren quickly shot him a smile and gave him a firm handshake before ushering him to one of the green seats and fixing his drink for him. The blonde man thanked Eren and clumsily made himself comfortable in his seat. Sasha bounded in minutes later and nearly knocked Eren into the ground. Apparently she hadn't forgotten Eren's invitation to make a snack for group because she gripped three trays of brownies in her arms. The girl reluctantly handed the trays to Eren who insisted they waited till everyone arrived to begin eating. Sasha grabbed a brownie in retaliation but ultimately allowed Eren to take the trays over to the coffee bar for safe keeping.
At 6:57 Bertl poked his head through the door and blushed when Eren waltzed over, grabbing his wrist, and pulling him over to the new seats urging him to try his out. The next three minutes dragged by endlessly, and when seven o'clock came around Eren felt his heart drop. Levi wasn't coming. He didn't know why he felt so disappointed but his stomach felt sick and he had to take a moment to compose himself.
He took the time to get a good look at everyone. Sasha was wearing dark blue skinny jeans with brown boots. She wore a tan crop top that had a hamburger on the front, and Eren let out a cheeky grin at the sight. Hannes was wearing tan slacks with a light blue button up and brown loafers. Bertl was dressed in light blue jeans with some Vans and a black tee-shirt. Eren wondered momentarily if the boy purposely dressed down as to not attract attention to himself.
Eren was glad he was able to afford the wardrobe he had. That's not to say he didn't enjoy lounging around in jeans and an old tee-shirt, but when at work or going out Eren always made sure to be presentable. At the moment he was wearing tan jeans and a light green button up. He wore chocolate colored ankle boots that Armin had given him as a gift for opening his business. Since he was operating as his own boss now Eren could get away with jeans, but had he still been working for Erwin he wouldn't be caught wearing anything other than slacks.
"Well guys, I'm glad you all came back!" Another pang in his stomach. "Well, almost everyone. Sasha brought brownies, so I'd like you all to thank her and then feel free to grab what you like! Oh, by the way, Sasha and Bertl?" He eyed the two. "Your coffee's are ready and on the bar. Sasha's is the one on the left." Sasha practically leapt out of her seat grabbing a brownie and shoving it into her mouth before grabbing two more along with her coffee and settling back down. Bertl grabbed his coffee and a brownie, while Hannes respectfully declined the pastry. Eren made an expresso for himself and grabbed one of the chocolate sweets. Just as he sat down he heard a click by the doorway..
"Tch. I see you've all gotten comfortable without me." Eren's eyes peeled open and his lips turned upward into a grin. Levi stood in the doorway, and for a moment Eren was dumbstruck. For the first time he took a good look at the man in front of him. Levi's lean legs were covered by black jeans that Eren doubted could get any tighter. A gray button up draped over his shoulders, and Eren could see the muscles in his arms ripple as he peeled off a black leather jacket. Levi tapped the heel of his black ankle boot in irritation as the boy eyed him up and down. Eren shook his head back to reality.
"You came?!" Eren set his cup down clumsily and bounded up to the raven. "I didn't think you were coming.." He whispered to the man.
Levi rolled his eyes. "Obviously I came. You can see me here, can't you? Or is it common for you to see things that aren't there?" Levi raised an eyebrow in question.
"N-no!" Eren sputtered and internally cursed the man for reducing him to a stuttering mess. "You're late." He pouted. "There's brownies on the bar from Sasha. You can make your coffee and join us. Your's is the black bean bag, cause you're so grumpy. I thought it'd match perfectly." Eren muttered the last two statements childishly before stomping back to his seat. Levi scoffed and made his way over to the bar, grabbing his cup and fixing a himself a cup of black coffee.
Eren took a breath before speaking. "So guys! Anything interesting happen in the week you were away?" He eyed the room. Sasha was too busy stuffing brownies into her mouth, desperately trying to lick up every crumb that fell onto her shirt. Bertl hid behind his cup of coffee, sipping slowly, looking everywhere but at Eren. When Eren's pleading eyes met Hannes, the man sighed in defeat.
"Well, my co-workers asked me out for drinks after work Monday night." The blonde started.
"And did you accept?" Eren bit the inside of his cheek.
"Yeah. I did." He averted his gaze in shame. "I told myself I'd only have a couple beers but that turned into about a dozen." Eren gave him an apologetic smile and eyed his other patients. Sasha was sprawled out across the bean bag, barely conscious due to the fact that she had consumed about 75% of the brownies on her own. Bertl was listening intently, nodding at everything the two said.
"I see. Where do you work Hannes?" Eren watched as Levi walked around to the front of the coffee bar, only to take a towel and wipe it down before hauling himself up onto it to sit. His legs dangled off the edge and Eren thought he looked similar to a child when he swung his legs back and forth. He held his coffee along the rim with his fingertips and blew on the steaming liquid before taking a tentative sip.
Hannes looked a bit confused but answered anyway. "Uh, well, I work as a detective.. in the Garrison unit of the police department."
Eren's eyes opened wide. "Wow. Y-you do?" He felt a lump in his throat. "What exactly do you specialize in?" Eren had to push away all his thoughts till he was a blank slate. He wondered if the universe really did hate him? Then again, if Hannes had worked on that case, surely he would have said something. After all, Eren's last name was very recognizable as it wasn't very common. No one except Levi noticed the boy tense up as he spoke.
"I work in homicide, but recently there haven't been any cases. We're stuck working cold cases that have no hope of being solved. It's been so long that any overlooked evidence is surely gone by now. There's just no point." He shrugged his shoulders casually.
Eren felt his blood boil and fought to remain calm and collected. He narrowed his eyes. "Have you considered that maybe that's the underlying cause of why drink so often? Because you wish to escape the feeling that there's no point to what you're doing?"
Hannes looked at Eren like a deer in headlights till something seemed to click and his expression darkened. He didn't answer and Eren decided to let him be, more for his own sake than for Hannes'. Old memories were starting to surface and he didn't want to talk or think about the Garrison for the rest of his life. Eren nodded absentmindedly and found his Caribbean eyes locked with gray blue eyes. He felt himself squirm under the other man's gaze. He was watching intently, brows slightly furrowed as though he were trying to answer a question in his mind.
"Anyone else want to share? I know being the first one to talk is nerve-wrecking but no one has to worry about that now. By the way, thank you for sharing Hannes. I'm glad you trusted everyone enough to speak about everything." Hannes raised a hand to the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Ah, no problem.."
"Uh, I have-" Bertl was cut off by a loud grumbling noise. Eren didn't know whether to be more shocked that Bertl was ready to speak up so soon, or by the fact that the dinosaur noise that just sounded came from Sasha's stomach. Apparently she just needed a good five minute rest because the second her stomach sounded she jumped up with a manic grin and eyed the remaining tray of brownies with animalistic eyes. She leapt over to the bar and Eren chuckled as he watched Levi scoot as far away from the ravaging woman as possible. She knocked over the empty trays in an attempt to grab the full one for herself. Levi crinkled his nose at her and Eren smiled as he told her not to worry about the mess. He'd get it later. When she took her seat again Eren giggled and turned back to Bertl who was hiding after being interrupted.
"Hey Bertl! Sorry about that outburst!" Eren let out a chuckle. "Did something happen last week?" Sasha sank in her seat a bit, just now realizing that her little escapade had interrupted the already anxious boy.
The boy nodded. "Uhm, well a few friends came to visit. Annie and Reiner. We went out to a club in Trost. We all danced."
"That's great! How was it? Was it called The 104th? I've been there with Mikasa and Armin. My sister and best friend. Actually we go there every last Saturday on the month to hangout."
"Yeah, the 104th. It was..fun. Really crowded." Eren could tell Bertl was struggling to keep up the conversation. Surely his nerves were taking over.
"Did you happen to meet a rather snarky, extremely intimidating bartender? Her name's Ymir. She works with this cute blonde girl Krista." Eren probed, hoping that Ymir had been working so he could work on communicating with the painfully anxious boy in front of him.
"Ahh..was she tan, with freckles? She served our drinks. She hung onto the blonde girl a lot.." He seemed to ease up a bit and Eren smiled.
"Yup! That's Ymir! Listen, if you ever go back, do not accept any favors from her! She's a great friend, but the girl is wicked. She only does favors to get something in return." Eren shuddered as he remembered a particularly annoying memory.
Levi must have noticed because for the first time he cleared his throat and spoke up. "Tch. You look like you're constipated brat. Either you have to take a massive dump or you have something to share. So, which is it?"
Eren glared at the raven. How the fuck did he seem to read Eren so easily? He sighed in defeat. "I guess I have to tell all of you now.." He groaned and leaned forward in his seat, hiding his face in his hands. "Alright. Well the first time I went to The 104th I was with Mikasa and Armin. Thanks to Armin's constant pestering for me to study, I had finished University a year early, and we wanted to celebrate. We found the place by chance and long story short, by the end of the night I was wasted."
Eren grimaced at the memory. Mikasa had warned him not to go overboard but that only prompted him to drink more. "Anyways, we were all dancing, but I decided to dip early and head back to the bar to wait for them. Ymir kept the shots coming, and I graciously accepted. I passed out in the chair I was in, the top half of my body sprawled onto the bar counter. Ymir carried me to the back and found Mika and Armin to take me home. We thanked her and all was well."
The boy smiled as everyone listened intently, eyes glued to him. "The next time we went in, Ymir informed me that I owed her for taking care of me, so instead of spending time with Mika and Armin I ended up working Ymir's shift the entire night while she and Krista (who was off) danced with my friends."
Eren waved his hand as Hannes, Sasha, and Berlt let out quiet giggles. "Yeah, that's not the worst part. If you've ever noticed, the bartenders all have a uniform to wear. The guys wear black slacks with a white button up and the girls wear black skirts with tights and a white button up, but its like tied in the front, so its like a half shirt?"
"Like a crop top!" Sasha chimed.
"Yeah, exactly! Well, since I had to take over the shift, I had to be in dress code. Ymir shoved some clothes my way and told me to change. She said it was the only thing they had so I'd have to deal with it. I shrugged at first but when I went to back room to change I realized that she had given me the girls uniform. I had to wear it for six hours." Eren felt his cheeks fill with blood as he recalled the incident.
Sasha rolled out of her bean bag laughing and Bertl coughed into his hand to muffle his amusement. Hannes let out a deep rumbling laugh and patted Eren on the shoulder as consolation. Levi's eyes remained icy and but Eren swore he saw them widen for a split second. He shook his head and sighed.
"Alright guys, now that you've thoroughly embarrassed me, how about we continue? Levi, Sasha, you two are the last left. Do you have anything to share?"
Levi game him a look that said 'are you kidding me?' so Eren looked over to Sasha as she crawled back into her bean bag. She got comfortable before yelling out a reply.
"Well, I hung out with Connie most of the week. We went rock climbing one day and then went to Maria's to eat. It's my favorite restaurant. I can make all their dishes!" She exclaimed with pride.
"Really? Are you a chef there?" Eren asked.
A look of confusion plastered its face onto Sasha. "No, I'm not. But I totally could be!" She grinned so wide Eren thought it must hurt.
"Oh! Well, you love food so much, and you said you can make all their dishes. I just thought it made sense you would be a chef, y'know? You should look into it, Sasha. I'm sure you'd be amazing." She nodded her head furiously, a newfound look of determination painting her features.
Begrudgingly, Eren turned his attention back to the raven who was glaring at him, obviously anticipating Eren's next move. "Have anything to share, Levi?" Eren's eyes were pleading.
"Not particularly, brat." Levi watched the group with his usual guarded eyes.
"Right." Eren sighed. "Well, honestly I didn't do much either. As you saw when you first got here I got new seats for everyone. Mika and Armin called to see how my first session went, and asked to sit in on one. I told them that unless they actually signed up they couldn't be here while we were in session, but if it's alright with you guys maybe they can stop by after 9 one Friday so you guys can meet them. Only if you all agree though. Don't feel pressured to say yes."
Everyone gave their approval with nods and quiet words of agreement. "Alright. Well I'll have them come down on our last session of the month, since I usually meet with them that weekend anyway." He thought a moment before continuing. "Hey, if you guys want you can bring someone too. I think it'd be a good idea. You can tell a lot about a person by their friends, so you can get to know me more and vice versa."
"Can I bring Connie!?" Sasha belted.
"Heh, you sure can, Sasha!" Eren answered.
The girl held a fist up and yelled "Yahooo!" in triumph.
Bertl lifted his gaze to Eren and for the first time spoke in a clear, confident voice. "I'll ask Annie and Reiner if they can come up."
"Sounds great! I'm looking forward to meeting them." Eren said, pleased with the result of his suggestion. "So since we're already two sessions in, starting next week I'm going to start assigning you guys little challenges to do in between meetings. Then each consecutive Friday we can talk about how they go. The purpose is to push you out of your comfort zones slowly, and also to work on self control." Every gave Eren determined nods and the boy was glad that everyone was so receptive to his ideas. "And guys, while starting out I don't want you to lose hope. In the beginning everything is new and you're bound to shy away sometimes. I just want you to keep trying and know that sometimes you won't be able to go through with a task first try. That's perfectly okay, as long as you keep trying. I'll be here to talk and help you along the way!"
Eren felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He had set an alarm so he knew when the session was over. "Well guys, we're out of time now! I'll see you all next week. It was great seeing you all, and I'm really glad that you guys felt comfortable enough to share some of your week with the group and I!"
Just like last week, everyone except Levi said their goodbyes to Eren and exited the building. Hannes was the first to leave. Sasha grabbed the empty trays from the ground and bounded out of the building, while Bertl stayed back a few minutes to help Eren sweep up crumbs that littered the floor. After a shy wave, Eren was left alone with Levi yet again. Eren was glad he had showed up but was feeling let down again as the man still had yet to participate even a little bit. What's the point in showing up if he isn't going to open up?
Levi was still seated on the bar counter and as Eren walked next to him to deposit all the dirty coffee mugs he felt his head being yanked up. Levi had grabbed Eren by the chin and moved his face up to lock eyes. Eren's heart nearly exploded out of his chest and he swallowed nervously. Their eyes were locked together, and Levi's steel gray eyes were scrutinizing Eren's blue orbs.
Levi's eyes narrowed and he nodded once before yanking his hand away from Eren's chin and wiping it off on his pants. "Green with specks of blue." He murmured. Much to Eren's annoyance the statement was too low for him to hear, and Levi just clicked his tongue in irritation instead of answering when Eren questioned what he had said.
"Whatever." Eren rolled his eyes. He cautiously walked away from Levi, grabbing a mop from a supply closet outside the room in the hallway. When he returned to mop down the floors after the mess Sasha left he found that Levi was no longer sitting on the counter. Did he leave? How did I not see him walk past me? Eren eyed the whole room but couldn't see the man anywhere. He shrugged and walked over to the bar to mop down the floor there. He heard shuffling coming from the middle of the room and turned around to see Levi curled up in the black bean bag. He sat in the middle with his knees brought up to his chin, and Eren thought he looked like a small child.
He had to stifle a chuckle, and quickly turned his gaze back to the floor he was cleaning. He took his time on the wood floor, wanting everything to be spotless. Eren used to be a slob but after certain circumstances his skin would crawl at even the slightest hint of filth. Eren shrugged the thoughts away and rung the mop out in a bucket before putting the supplies back in their rightful places. After a satisfied huff the emerald eyed boy made his way next to Levi and slunk into his green bean bag. His muscles ached and Eren just now realized how tired he really was. The boy had agonized over who would return for a second session, and now under the gaze of steel eyes he became aware of the fact that he had worried over Levi almost exclusively.
Why am I so worried about some cranky little midget who doesn't even want to be helped? Eren wondered briefly if it was because Levi's reluctance to get help reminded Eren of his former self. His thoughts were erased when said midget cleared his throat and spoke up.
"Erwin's gonna give me so much shit when he finds out I came back." Levi had a look of disgust planted on his face as he spoke. Eren immediately forgot about his worries and let out a gentle laugh.
"So why did you come back? I actually thought you weren't going to show up cause you were late and all…" Eren's voice trailed off nervously.
"Tch. I wasn't late. I was just avoiding coming in." Levi retorted. Eren's brows furrowed in confusion. Levi rolled his eyes and continued. "I was trying to talk myself into leaving."
"What, why?!" Eren yelped.
Levi scoffed. "I don't need help. I especially don't need help from some brat who doesn't know shit about the world." Levi brought his knees down from his chest and let his feet hit the floor. He stood up and trailed his hands down his button up and jeans, wiping off imaginary specks of dust. He stood to take his leave, completely ignoring the look of sheer anger on Eren's face. Before Levi stepped out the door he was left with bitter words from the brat that seemed to haunt him relentlessly the rest of the night.
"You know, I used to be like you. I wanted to shoulder everything on my own. I didn't want to bring anyone else down by asking for help. But that was foolish thinking, Levi. And for the record, you have no idea what I've been through so don't pretend like I haven't had a hard life." Levi whipped his head around to face the boy and froze when he was met with a tender smile.
"Bye Levi, I hope to see you next week! Seven o'clock sharp, alright?" With that Eren ushered the man out and closed the door the second the raven exited the group's room. Eren cursed himself for letting the man's words get to him so easily. Why couldn't he keep himself grounded? He had always been hot headed, but he had learned to control it. None of his previous patients had been able to get a rise out of him no matter how many times they insulted or attempted to discredit Eren. So why did one stupid sentence from one stupid shrimp upset him so much? At least he had been able to maintain a smile.
Eren slumped back against the door and let himself fall into a sitting position. Levi had no idea what he knew about the world. He knew loss and betrayal. Most of all he knew fear. Images of his father swam into the boys mind and he slammed his head back against the door to shift his focus to the pain. These were things he didn't need to dwell on anymore. He hadn't seen his father in years. Everything was alright now. He was safe. Eren would never have to feel that kind of despair ever again… Right?